Aurona, page 35
“Oh, there you are!” He summoned them excitedly. “Time for your long ride!” He really liked them, and especially together; there was a rare chemistry between the two, an exquisite blending of personalities.
Outside the door, two men were holding up a tall curtain stretched between a pair of Flexrod poles. Elena glanced at Kron, her eyes questioning: they seemed to be hiding something. As the curtains parted, she squealed in delight.
Looking like a mini Rose Bowl parade float, a once-plain cargo sled was festooned with flowers. The crew had labored for almost two hours with the wedding preparations, covering the top of the flat slab with Anchorplanks and arching several Flexrods over it for the women to decorate. Joelle and her crew had made many trips to the edge of the rainforest, picking exotic species of orchids and bromeliad-like flowers, and a circle of heavily armed men had surrounded them on SpeedSleds.
Someone gave the cue: drifting down from speakers somewhere on top of the tower, soft music fell on the wedding party like an ethereal blanket. Adam stepped aboard the float, extended a hand to his bride, and circled to the front of the tower. The jungle reverberated with raucous cheers. On impulse, Elena leaned against her man with a big, satisfied smile, winking broadly at the crew. There was an immediate, renewed response.
A mischievous glint in his eye, Adam raised his hands to speak. The tumult died to a hush, with a few lingering catcalls. “As you can plainly see,” he shouted, “the shields around this planet have come down, just like Elena’s defenses!” As a round of hoots and whistles filled the air, he felt Elena’s nails dig into his arm. He bent low and whispered into her ear, smirking. “Top that one if you can, hon.”
Smiling confidently, she raised her small hand. “I’d say everybody’s defenses have come down on this planet, both Bandors and humans…,” she paused for the effect, and the crew leaned forward expectantly, “with the power of love!” She looked up at Adam with blatant self-assurance, batting her eyes.
He grimaced. “Ya got me! I’ve met my match, Ms. Einstein.”
Tola cleared his throat. “Ah, knowing Elena, sir, I’d say your resistance melted like wax over a flame!” Once more, the crowd applauded their approval.
The round man had decided to waste no time dallying in the spotlight. This was to be their day, their hour, a moment that they’d never forget. He slipped his tiny e-Bible from his utility belt and opened it discreetly to perform his first meaningful ministerial assignment on Aurona. “As Elena said,” he began, “it really does start with the power of love. There’s no better place to find a description of this amazing power than in First Corinthians, Chapter 13.” His voice rang out, clear and strong. ‘If I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, but have not love….’”
It was nearly dark. Slowly, the Motherlode’s great column of light began to bloom into existence, backlighting the unforgettable scene with a growing wall of brilliance. Something else was happening. Rushing in toward the warm column of light, long, trailing strands of gold-spangled vapor rose inside the shaft toward the sky. Within a breath, the Motherlode had become a spectacular, glittering beacon.
Awestruck, trembling, the young couple faced an equally stunned preacher. It had almost seemed preordained that they should meet and marry at this hour. The ethereal wall of light seemed to be coming down from Heaven itself, as if it were a stamp of approval. Impossibly far from home on an unknown planet, the crew looked like tiny specks in front of an enormous, glittering beacon. With no one realizing it, Aurona’s history was being forever altered; time was being forever marked with this insignificant, impromptu ceremony.
They kissed for the first time as husband and wife and then an impossibly long, heart-stopping moment later, parted. It was done. They drank in the spectacle a few more minutes, then bolted for their wedding suite on the ship.
A week had passed and it was early evening. The tower and starship were both lit starkly from the side, bathed in the now-familiar column of light enveloping the Motherlode. The broad platform on top of the tower and the curved dome of the starship were both crowded with nervous knots of people. One of the crew had found a hatch over the Holosphere’s bulbous dome and quickly told the others. A group climbed out, gathering on the slippery surface with their footgrippers turned to max.
It was Razah time, the inauguration of Elena’s capture and restocking program. Everyone gazed out into the distant jungle canopy, armed and confident with the protection of his or her weapon; even at a quarter strength, the Stiflers had proven themselves to be powerful weapons.
As the sun began to set earlier in the evening, Kron and a small group of men had picked off one of the first Spyrins to appear. They quickly sedated and caged it down in a cargo hold, and his men had nervously stared at the huge insect from a doorway. Without warning, it had roared to life. Spotting them, it had whipped itself into an enraged, thrashing frenzy. With loud wails, it began to strobe furiously with its searchlight, squirting poison from its jabbing stinger and clicking viciously on the alloy bars with its saw-toothed mandibles. Tola finally stepped in to restore order. Turning off the lights, he shooed everyone away from the room and closed the door.
Everyone was back outside now, swapping Spyrin horror stories and shivering in the breezy, cool night air. All around them, a trillion pinpoints of light were winking to life on the Arren trees. In the distance, they could see the columns of light from the other Motherlodes, row upon row of them marching toward the sunset.
Elena raised the suction on her footgrippers. It was scary on top of the starship and she was shivering in excitement. “See? Isn’t it just like I told you?” she pointed. “The darker it gets, the brighter those spangly columns around the trees get! From here, it looks like they’re holding up a canopy of stars!”
“Hey, you’re right,” Joelle agreed. “And the Arren trees look like they’re reflecting that blanket of stars down on the ground.”
“Wow! Shooting stars, too!” Adam interrupted, pointing. “Look over there! I see three moving lights a the edge of the jungle!” As everyone’s head turned, three spotlights burst into the grassy clearing, flying in formation. “Spyrins! Holy cow! I hope someone gets them before….” Even as he spoke, the electrical snap of a Stifler echoed loudly.
“Craaaaaack!!”
It had came from the other direction! They all turned toward the source.
“Wow!” someone yelled. “That was super loud! Three-quarter strength! Definitely not a Spyrin! Maybe … a Razah?”
With the buzz of distant thunder, the three flying searchlights banked, turning toward the sound. Adam watched, dumbfounded. “Wow, that’s intense! How’d they know a Razah just got hit? They must be going after his body!”
“Crack, crack, craack!”
Three more Stifler blasts sounded almost simultaneously, this time at quarter strength. As the living searchlights dropped and faded, a brighter group of mechanical ones appeared stealthily at the edge of the jungle. It was over. About twenty speeding sleds converged on the scene, throwing their blinding beams on a pile of smoking, paralyzed bodies.
Adam cranked up the volume on his wrist intercom. “Cages ready?” he breathed. “Got your time-release tranquilizer serum?”
Startled, the men at the scene turned toward the source of the transmission. Standing off by himself, Adam waved, a tiny, backlit figure on top of the starship.
A voice drifted back. “Holy cow! Is it safe up there, sir?”
“Absolutely,” he affirmed. “We’ve all got our footgrippers on and we’re armed; what else could we need? Hey, can you guys lift that beast, or what?”
“No problem! There’s twelve of us down here!”
One of the men chimed in. “Good God, what a monster! This Razah’s way over twenty feet, sir! Our estimates were way off! Tell Kron to bring a bigger cage!”
Adam signaled to his second in command down in the quarantine room. Kron had already heard them and was halfway out the door, on the fly. He grabbed Elena’s hand. “C’mon hon, you’re way better at this medical stuff than us novices. They’ve got all the help they need with those beasts, so we’ll just wait for them downstairs.”
Out in the jungle, Elke had been watching the action. He was sure he’d seen Dexor and Senn looking around furtively and then concealing themselves with their sled’s cloaking device. The two were up to no good, and he knew it: Adam would be pleased at his report. Up ahead, a tunnel of leaves was still moving in a path straight away from him. Suddenly, there was movement to his left, deep in the undergrowth.
“Aha!” He concentrated on it, his finger poised over his Stifler’s trigger. “I see you, creeps,” he muttered. He hopped off his one-man SpeedSled and ducked behind a softly glowing Arren branch. “Thought you’d give me the slip, huh?”
“Snaaaap!!” He spun around, his eyes wide in shock. “What the…?”
Behind him, his tiny SpeedSled rocked in the air as a visible, moving wave of energy smashed into it broadside. The little speedster let out a puff of smoke and dropped to the forest litter. The shields hadn’t been up and some kind of massive electronic disturbance had just shorted everything out!
A branch rustled. Elke’s primal senses took over, the hair rising on the back of his neck. Wafting in over the smell of burnt wires, his nostrils picked up a faint, rank odor. His heart began to hammer.
Two dilating, glowing eyes had been watching him from deep cover. Sensing fear, the beast flattened to the ground and slunk excitedly toward him.
In spite of all his efforts at self-control, Elke panicked, dove headfirst into the jungle, and got up sprinting at top speed. Spooked out of his wits and fighting his way through the tangle, he screamed for help at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, there were bright lights ahead! He burst into a clearing, yanking off the clinging vines.
Startled, Peter rotated his SpeedSled toward him. He dropped his shields and jumped out, yelling. “E-Elke! You-you shouldn’t be out here like this! Where’s your sled, man?”
Mid-yank, Elke paused a minute. “W-well, that’s another story. You see, I thought I saw Dexor, and….”
There was a loud electrical snap from the jungle’s cover, followed by a sizzling sound. Buffeted by an unseen wind, Elke’s clothing fluttered and his eyes rolled back into his head, the whites glowing eerily in the sleds’ headlights.
“Elke?” Peter leaped off his sled in horror. “Elke? Someone! Anyone! Help us!” With an abrupt thrashing of branches, a permeating, rank odor filled the air. He spun on his heels.
A Razah! He jumped aside as the great, frightening shape hurtled toward him. The beast was at the throat of his prey in seconds, his hateful eyes glowing in the headlights. His tail lashing in fury, he straddled Elke’s small body, poised for the kill. Curling back his lips, he hyper-extended his great jaw to reveal a colossal set of sabertooth fangs.
Suddenly, with a flash and roar, a sea of headlights burst into the clearing. The Razah froze, his tail snapping in agitation. The sleds circled him, their riders screaming at the top of their lungs. On signal, they dropped their shields and aimed their Stiflers.
Peter screamed the order. “Waste him!!”
At full power, fourteen simultaneous electrochemical blasts cleaved the air. As the blinding bolts sizzled deeply into his flesh, the Razah expelled a great gasp of putrid air. With his jaw locked in open position, he jerked in convulsive death throes and fell heavily, squarely on top of Elke. The massive sabers impaled themselves deeply into the ground, bridging the man’s neck.
Elke’s lips turned blue. Peter lunged and pushed at the Razah, his eyes wide in desperation. “Quick! Get him off, guys!”
They threw their backs into it, straining mightily at the smoking, scorched carcass. Clods of dirt flew. “What’s this fat cow made of, lead?” Peter wailed. “Why can’t we budge him? We’ve got more than a dozen men here!” Elke’s lips fluttered as the last ounces of breath were squeezed from his lungs. The ponderous beast was crushing him! It couldn’t be moved!
There was a distant hum. A lone SpeedSled appeared, its headlight probing the jungle. Kron sat at the controls, red-faced and shaking with anger. There seemed to be an odd set to his jaw. Suddenly, he veered and surged toward them. A wide path quickly opened.
Thrusters on full blast, he mercilessly rammed his sturdy two-man SpeedSled into the Razah’s body. As the smoking beast rolled off, the sled hovered momentarily over Elke’s still form and then backed away. The small group was speechless.
Kron jumped off and straddled the body. After a frantic moment of CPR, the man began to choke in shallow gasps, trickles of blood running from the corners of his mouth. Kron stood up slowly, wiping his hands on his uniform. Hot tears of anger welled up in his eyes. “What in…? What were you guys thinking,” he choked. “Why-why didn’t you….” His voice trailed off.
Peter was mortified. Stone-faced, he bent down and helped the men lift Elke onto the back of Kron’s sled. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “Go. Quickly.”
A phalanx of doctors was ready with the Bitron’s diagnostic instruments as Kron flew into the cargo door and quickly converged around their fallen comrade. Retreating to the back of the room, a chagrined Peter and a furious Elena paced back and forth, avoiding each other’s eyes as they awaited the outcome. Finally, Peter couldn’t stand the silent, unspoken charade. As she passed, he gently touched her on her sleeve. She wheeled toward him, her eyes flashing.
“You!” she snapped, her voice razor-sharp. At the doctors’ startled glances, she nodded grimly toward the exit. “Outside,” she hissed.
Their voices echoed in the long, curving hallway.
“Didn’t you see the Razah coming?”
“No! Man, I’m so sorry. I saw Elke running and screaming out of the forest, and then, bam! It happened! The Razah….”
“Came out of nowhere!” she finished. Taking a deep breath, she softened her tone. “And what was Elke doing out there alone, anyway?”
“He-he mentioned something about following Dexor.”
“What? He was out there, too?”
“Apparently.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh … so that’s it!”
The tensions of the past hour finally took their toll. Breaking down, Elena slumped. “So Elke was spying for us,” she muttered, hot tears welling up. “He must have been! But he shouldn’t have been out there alone!”
“We all let down our guards, Elena. I’m sorry.”
She shuddered. “Remember what Duron told us, the part about the Razah’s mind-net? That beast must’ve been out there casting his net to locate prey.”
Peter’s hand went to his chin, pondering. “Hmm, maybe we could put up a force field, or even something old-fashioned, like a big electric fence around the jungle?” He paused, mulling it over. “But-but we shouldn’t interfere, really … should we?”
Kron had been noticeably eavesdropping. Elena motioned him over, drying her eyes. Suddenly she brightened as a spark of inspiration hit. “Hey, that’s right! In the broader sense, force fields can be extremely selective. Listen to this, you two!”
As she whispered in their ears they listened incredulously, then broke into broad grins, their eyes sparkling. They nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Feeling vastly better, the three slipped back into the emergency bay.
As Elena stood on her toes to peer intently over the doctor’s shoulders, a set of bright eyes met her own on the other side of the circle.
“Adam!” Her arms flew into the air, the wall of attendants parted, and she descended on him like a cresting wave. “Where have you been? With all the confusion, I thought you’d be right behind me! I had to move fast!”
He pulled her tight. “Too fast for me, sweetpea; you took off like a shot!
There was a groan behind them. Elke grimaced, his ribs tightly bandaged. “W-what happened?” he wheezed. “Everything went blank….”
She bit her lip. “Shhh, quiet, you! A Razah almost had you for dinner! You got mind-stunned!”
Wincing in pain, Elke glanced apologetically at Kron and Peter. “Wow, intense! Everything just … Poof! Went blank! Sorry, guys.”
Kron caught Elena’s eye and they exchanged winks. “Listen everyone,” he offered enthusiastically, “Elena’s got a dynamite proposal!”
She shrugged. “Well, I don’t even know if it’ll work but if it does, the Bandors should never have to live in fear again.” She lifted her gaze to study the reaction of each white-coated person in the room. “And as doctors, my plan directly concerns you! I’m going to need a top surgical team to make it work!”
The medical staff stared at her, waiting in suspense.
“There’ll be two steps. Two operations, really,” she began. “The first one would involve a fitting and the second, a set of implants. We’ll practice our surgical technique on this dead Razah.”
Someone snorted. “What? On an … animal? We’re not veterinarians!”
“Hey,” Adam chided. “A body’s a body, right?”
Elena continued. “He’s right. We’re not that much different. So this is my plan: tomorrow I’m going to ask some Bandor metalworkers to work on a prototype. I know they can hammer a large, custom-formed helmet out of gold.”
“Huh?” Adam spun to her, uncomprehending. “A gold h-helmet?”
“Then it’ll be up to you doctors,” she continued, unhurried. “You guys will lift away a triangular, eight-inch flap of skin from the Razah’s forehead and then fit an ultra thin, ferrous metal plate to the surface of their skull, using that new bio-epoxy. It will remain there permanently, as an implant under the skin of their foreheads.”
Adam stared at her, his jaw hanging open. “Why all the elaborate prep?”
She continued smoothly. “I’m almost there. Now as we all know, gold is impervious to the elements, it’s abundant on Aurona, and therefore perfect for the job. The gold helmet will have three permanent supermagnets precisely aligned on its inner surface, set to ‘hover’ at two inches. Once in place, the Razah will never be able to pry it off.”
